New Database Answers Your Burning Question: Does That Animal Fart?

Often when kids are learning about an animal for the first time, they ask if the animal can fart. It may be a juveline question, but it's a good question—one based on trying to understand how similar or different the animals are compared to humans. Now scientists are across the globe are putting the answers for a wide variety of animals in one handy database.

Borne out of a Twitter hashtag, the #DoesItFartGoogle spreadsheet lacks the veracity of a peer-reviewed academic journal, but it does provide a terrific starting off point for those wondering about the farting habits of frogs, freshwater mussels, or the gray fox.

Initially compiled by Nicholas Caruso, a Ph.D. candidate in biological sciences at University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, the spreadsheet is currently in "view only" mode, suggesting that some level of peer-review is taking place. He's told BuzzFeed that he has no further plans for the spreadsheet, with a focus on earning his degree.

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The spreadsheet and hashtag's success has the potential to open doors for a wide variety of animal body functions. For example, while it's widely believed that cow farts contribute to global warming, it's actually cow burps that release the methane. Hopefully, a #DoesItBurp hashtag is in the works.

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